IPL MOHALI TEAM:PUNJAB KINGS

· Yuvraj Singh

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Irfan Pathan

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Brett Lee

Specialisation: Right arm fast bowler, Right hand batsman
Availability: Not in 2008 Nationality: Australian
· Kumar Sangakkara

Specialisation: Left-hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· S Sreesanth

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium, Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Mahela Jayawardene

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· Piyush Chawla

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Ramesh Powar

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Ramnaresh Sarwan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Until May 16
Nationality: West Indian
· Simon Katich

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· James Hopes

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium, Right hand batsman Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· Kyle Mills

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander
· Tanmay Srivastava

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Ajitesh Argal

Specialisation: Right arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian

IPL JAIPUR TEAM::RAJASTHAN ROYALS

· Md Kaif

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off break
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Graeme Smith

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Off break Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African
· Yusuf Pathan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, off-break
Availability: Whole Tournament Nationality: Indian
· Shane Warne

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break Googly
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· Munaf Patel

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Younis Khan

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani
· Kamran Akmal

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Wicket keeper
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani
· Justin Langer

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Right medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian
· Dmitri Mascarenhas

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: -
Nationality: England
· Shane Watson

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian
· Sohail Tanvir

Specialisation: Left hand batsman
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Pakistani
· Morne Morkel

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right arm fast medium Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: South African
· Ravindra Jadeja

Specialisation: Left hand batsman, Slow left-arm orthodox
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Taruvar Kohli

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Full Tournament
Nationality: Indian

Kollywood stars to endorse Chennai Super Kings

Two of the most popular actors in Kollywood, Vijay and Nayanthara, have been signed up to be the brand ambassadors for the Indian Premier League’s Chennai team, Chennai Super Kings, run by India Cements Limited. The team has the logo of a roaring lion and and their tagline goes: Fearless entertainers who will play to win.

Vijay and Nayanthara will add glamour to IPL's Twenty: 20 matches. Both of them will endorse Chennai Super Kings, appear on hoardings and in television ads, and will turn up at the matches (played in Chennai, Mohali, Kolkata and Mumbai) to cheer for Dhoni and his team.

Both the stars are riding a wave and are extremely popular in south India. India Cements Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, TNCA President and BCCI Treasurer N Srinivasan, the franchisee owner of Chennai Super Kings has pulled off a coup by getting two of the hottest stars in south to endorse for them.

The market buzz is that Vijay and Nayanthara who have never endorsed before (though Vijay has featured in a Coke commercial before he became a superstar) have been paid a bomb to endorse for Chennai Super Kings.

Akshay Kumar to endorse Delhi Daredevils

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar was on Monday roped in as brand ambassador of the Indian Premier League's 'Delhi Daredevils' team.

Akshay, born and brought up in the capital's Chandni Chowk area, surprised a packed room at a five star hotel when he emerged in dim light making a batting gesture with helmets and a willow in Daredevils' red and black shirt.

"My heart beats for Delhi. I consider myself a pucca Dilliwalah. I would like to thank the GMR Group (team owners) for choosing me as the first fan of Delhi Daredevils. I hope I become a lucky mascot for the team," the actor said with his trademark mischievous smile.

The actor, who gave two big hits recently, advised probing journalists not to think of his involvement in IPL as taking on fellow actor Shah Rukh Khan and think of him as a Delhiite, who wish to bring success to the team.

"Please keep such things aside. Why do you think of such things? I am sportsman also. Let us talk about cricket. I want to commit myself on some things which are very dear to me, that is why I am here."

"I have endorsed very few products in my 18-year film career - Coca Cola and Grasim. This (becoming brand ambassador of Delhi IPL team) is very dear to me since I am Delhiite in my heart," Akshay said.

He laughed at a suggestion that actors are involving in cricket because of Bollywood's diminishing entertaining value to the people. "When we are invited in many cricket functions, do they mean that cricket is reaching out to Bollywood to attract people," he countered.

Akhsay praised Daredevils captain Virender Sehwag for scoring a triple century in India's first Test against South Africa in Chennai and also welcomed Pakistani stars Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Asif to the team.

McGrath looking forward to playing against Tendulkar

New Delhi: Former Australian pacer Glenn McGrath on Thursday said there are few players of Sachin Tendulkar's calibre in the international arena and he is looking forward to play against him during the IPL.

Speaking at a press conference here after a practice session of the Delhi Daredevils, McGrath said, ''playing against Sachin Tendulkar is always fascinating for me. He is a class act. Whether it is Test or One-Day he is genius. But in the T20 format he can be destructive because the game is tilted towards the favour of batsmen,'' he added.

he 38 year-old, who retired from international cricket last year, arrived in Delhi on Tuesday night and attended fielding drills on Wednesday morning with the Delhi Daredevils, the franchise that bought him for 350,000 dollars.

McGrath, who has gained some weight after retiring from international cricket remarked, ''I am excited about this new format of the game.

''Coming back to India for such a fascinating tournament is really great. Playing in IPL will be totally different experience,'' he said.

Praising Chennai triple centurian and his captain in the event, Virender Sehwag, McGrath said playing with and under him will be really very challenging.

''Sehwag on his day can destroy any attack. He is very destructive and class player. We are lucky that he is with us,'' he said.

Replying to a question that according to a survey, 45 per cent of the Australian players wants to take retirement for playing in the cash-rich IPL, McGrath said, ''It is surprising that Australian players are so fascinate to play in the IPL. But I will be disappoint if they join IPL before playing any international cricket.

Referring to Indian hospitality and there love for cricket, McGrath said that the public here will receive Symonds in a cordial manner.

''Inspite of all the controversies and bad blood during India's Tour down under, auction shows that what Indian think about Symonds,'' he added.

IPL HYDERABAD TEAM::DECCAN CHARGERS

· Andrew Symonds

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Off-break
Availability: Not in 2008
Nationality: Australian

· RP Singh

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament<>br Nationality: Indian

· Rohit Sharma

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Adam Gilchrist

Specialisation: Left-hand batsman, wicketkeeper
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Australian
· Shahid Afridi

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Leg break googly
Availability: From April 27
Nationality: Pakistani
· Herschelle Gibbs

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: South African
· VVS Laxman

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Indian
· Chaminda Vaas

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium, left hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· Scott Styris

Specialisation: Right hand batsman, Right-arm medium fast
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: New Zealander
· Nuwan Zoysa

Specialisation: Left-arm fast medium
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan
· Chamara Silva

Specialisation: Right hand batsman
Availability: Whole Tournament
Nationality: Sri Lankan

Shah Rukh, Ganguly unveil Kolkata Knight Riders

Kolkata: Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and former India captain Sourav Ganguly Tuesday unveiled Kolkata Knight Riders, the Kolkata team of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL), at a glittering ceremony here.

As the team's theme song "Korbo, Lorbo, Jitbo" (We will do it, fight it and win it) blared and the Bollywood king raised his hands with team captain Sourav Ganguly, coach John Buchanan and actor Juhi Chawla, a glamorous chapter of cricket was written inside ITC Sonar Bangla hotel here.

The black and gold team jersey was also unveiled.

Full coverage: Indian Premier League

"Black is the colour of goddess Kali (a symbol of Kolkata) and we aim for gold," Shah Rukh Khan said.

The team's owner is Shahrukh Khan's Red Chillies Entertainment in partnership with Juhi Chawla and Jay Mehta. Sourav Ganguly is the icon player and will lead the Kolkata franchise. (By a Sify Correspondent)

Katrina, Deepika to groove with Dravid

Just as the euphoria and excitement surrounding King Khan's video for his IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders seems to be subsiding, there comes the news that the Bangalore Royal Challengers IPL team would also be soon unveiling their ad and promotional video.

For those who came in late, the Bangalore Royal Challengers IPL team is owned by none other than liquor baron Vijay Mallya, and local boy Rahul Dravid is the captain. Mallya, who is known for doing things in style, has roped in director Sanjay Gupta to direct the sporty and racy ad while action director Allan Amin would be in charge of the action.

Read: Sanjay Gupta to direct Mallya's IPL ad film

What's more, Mallya would also be coming out with a promotional music video, an anthem for his team for which music composer Sandeep Chowta has been roped in. However, what is considered the real high point is that this video will have Rahul Dravid in the company of two sizzling hot beauties—Katrina Kaif and Bangalore girl Deepika Padukone.

Well, with Bollywood beauties grooving with our Men in Blue, cricket fever seems to have reached an all time high this summer.

IPL Teams - Mumbai Indians

Mumbai Indians will be representative of the city of Mumbai in the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Sachin Tendulkar, also the Icon Player for the team and coached by Lalchand Rajput, the former Manager of the Indian Cricket Team.

Reliance Industries Limited through its subsidiary Reliance Retail Ltd purchased the rights for the Mumbai franchise of Indian Premier league for a total of $111.9 million during the auction on January 24, 2008. The RIL bid has made the Mumbai Indians the most expensive franchise in IPL.

The team logo has the Sudarshan Chakra with the team’s name engraved in it. The team’s colour will be blue. The choice of the name “Indians” for a regional competition is widely regarded as a blunder.

The mascot is still unknown.
Players

Sachin Tendulkar is the designated icon player and also captain for Mumbai Indians. During the player auction Mumbai Indians successfully bid for 7 players, including two of the heroes of Indian Twenty-20 world cup side in Harbhajan Singh and Robin Uthappa. Sanath Jayasuriya was also another prized catch, along with South African legend Shaun Pollock. The team also added the Sri Lankan speedster Lasith Malinga.

Outside of the player auction, the franchise has also signed up Ajinkya Rahane and Abhishek Nayar (from Mumbai), Yogesh Takawale (from Maharashtra) and Pinal Shah (from Baroda)
Name - Age - Country - Position

Batsmen
Sachin Tendulkar (Captain) - 35 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Robin Uthappa - 22 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Loots Botsman - 30 - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman
Ashley Prince - 30 - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman
Manish Pandey - 18 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Saurabh Tiwari - 18 - India - Left-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers
Yogesh Takawale - 23 - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper
Pinal Shah - 20 - India - Right-handed Batsman - Wicket keeper

All Rounders
Sanath Jayasuriya - 37 - Sri Lanka - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Shaun Pollock - 35 - South Africa - Right-arm medium-fast
Ajinkya Rahane - 19 - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers
Harbhajan Singh - 27 - India - Right-arm off-break
Lasith Malinga - 24 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast
Dilhara Fernando - 29 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm fast-medium
Abhishek Nayar - 24 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Ashish Nehra - 28 - India - Left-arm fast-medium


Administration and Coaching staffFront Office:

Owner - Reliance Industries Limited
CEO - R Balachandran
President - Mukesh Ambani

Coaches:
Head Coach - Lalchand Rajput
Assistant Head Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - TBA

IPL Teams - Bangalore Royal Challengers

Bangalore Royal Challengers is the team that is going to represent the city of Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, the inaugural Twenty20 cricket tournament to be held in India. The team is owned by the liquor magnate Vijay Mallya, the chairman of UB Group. Charu Sharma is the CEO of the team and Rahul Dravid, the captain of the team is the Icon Player. Martin Crowe, the former New Zealand captain, has also been signed as a member of the management team. Venkatesh Prasad, the former Indian fast bowler and the present bowling coach of India has been declared the coach for the team.

Bangalore team was won by Vijay Mallya, who paid US$111.6 million for it. This was the second highest bid for a team in the IPL, next only to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries’ bid of $111.9 million for the Mumbai team.

Indian actresses Deepika Padukone and Katrina Kaif were signed as the brand ambassadors of the franchise.

Vijay Mallya wanted to associate one of his top-selling liquor brands, either ‘No. 1 McDowell’s’ or ‘Royal Challenge’ with the team. Ultimately, ‘Royal Challenge’ was chosen, and hence the team was given the name ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’. The jersey colours of the team are red and golden yellow, and the logo consists of the RC emblem with ‘Bangalore Royal Challengers’ in standard format.

Players

The players in the team (except for Rahul Dravid, who was the Icon Player), were selected in an auction conducted by BCCI on 20 February 2008. South Africa’s Jacques Kallis at $900,000 became the costliest player to be selected to play for the Royal Challengers. This meant that Rahul Dravid, being the Icon Player would be paid $1,035,000 (15% more than the highest bid player in the team). Other players selected included the Indian Test cricket captain Anil Kumble along with his team-mates Praveen Kumar and Zaheer Khan, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Aussies Nathan Bracken and Cameron White, South Africa’s Mark Boucher (Wicket Keeper) and Dale Steyn.
Name - Age - Country - Position

Batsmen
Rahul Dravid (Captain/Icon Player) - 35 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 33 - West Indies - Left-handed Batsman
Wasim Jaffer - 30 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Misbah-ul-Haq - 33 - Pakistan - Right-handed Batsman
Ross Taylor - 24 - New Zealand - Right-handed Batsman
Arun Kumar J. - 33 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Appanna K. P. - 19 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Bharat Chipli - 25 - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicket Keepers
Mark Boucher - 31 - South Africa - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper
Shreevats Goswami - 18 - India - Left-hand Batsman / Wicket keeper
Devraj Patil - 23 - India - Right-handed Batsman / Wicket keeper

Allrounders
Jacques Kallis - 32 - South Africa - Right-arm fast-medium
Cameron White - 24 - Australia - Right-handed Leg-break googly
Sunil Joshi - 37 - India - Left-handed Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Akhil B. - 30 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Virat Kohli - 19 - India - Right-arm medium

Bowlers
Anil Kumble - 37 - India - Right-arm leg-break googly
Zaheer Khan - 29 - India - Left-arm medium-fast
Nathan Bracken - 30 - Australia - Left-arm fast-medium
Dale Steyn - 24 - South Africa - Right-arm fast
Praveen Kumar - 21 - India - Right-arm medium-fast
Abdur Razzak - 25 - Bangladesh - Slow left-arm orthodox
Vinay Kumar R. - 24 - India - Right-arm medium-fast

Administration and coaching staff

Front Office:
Owner- Vijay Mallya
CEO - Charu Sharma
Adviser - Martin Crowe

Coaches:
Head Coach - Venkatesh Prasad
Assistant Head Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - TBA

IPL Teams - Chennai Super Kings

Chennai Super Kings is the Chennai franchise for the Indian Premier League. The team will be led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the highest-paid IPL Player, and coached by Kepler Wessels. There is no Icon Player for the team.

Chennai Super Kings are a part of the eight club Indian Premier League. The franchise is owned by India Cements, who paid $91 million to acquire the rights of the franchise for the next 10 years. Former India test player Kris Srikkanth is the brand ambassador for the franchise, and another former Indian opener V. B. Chandrasekhar will be the chief selector. The brand ambasssadors for the team will be South Indian actor, Vijay and actress, Nayantara.

The M.A.Chidambaram stadium (often referred to as Chepauk, the place where the stadium is located) will be the home ground of the IPL team. The theme song of Chennai Super Kings, penned by Vairamuthu, is presently being composed by G V Prakash Kumar.

The name “Super Kings” is to honor the rulers of the golden era of Tamil culture, the team logo has a Lion to reflect the King of the Jungle. In addition the word “Super” is colloquially used in the state of Tamil Nadu to reflect all things thrilling and exciting and is a word of the lips of almost every one in Tamil Nadu. Incidentally the Chennai team playing in the ICL (the rebel league) is named as “Chennai Superstars”.

Players

Chennai Super Kings are one of the three franchises with no icon player. The lack of an icon player benefited the Super Kings during the bidding as they managed to bid successfully on two (Dhoni & Muralitharan) of the six A listed players.

The team plans to have twenty three players on its roster. Besides the list of players already acquired, the team will pick the remaining members from the three catchment areas - Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Railways - that have been allocated to it.
Name - Age - Country - Position

Batsmen
Matthew Hayden - 36 - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
Stephen Fleming - 35 - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman
Suresh Raina - 21 - India - Left-handed Batsman
Michael Hussey - 32 - Australia - Left-handed Batsman
Anirudha Srikkanth - 21 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Subramaniam Badrinath - 28 - India - Right-handed Batsman
Napoleon Einstein - 18 - India - Right-handed Batsman

Wicketkeepers
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Captain) - 26 - India - Right-handed Wicket keeper
Parthiv Patel - 22 - India - Left-handed Wicket keeper

All Rounders
Jacob Oram - 28 - New Zealand - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm medium-fast
Albie Morkel - 28 - South Africa - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm fast-medium
Shadab Jakati - 27 - India - Slow left-arm orthodox spin
Abhinav Mukund - 18 - India - Left-handed Batsman/Right-arm leg-break
Viraj Kadbe - 18 - India - Right-arm leg-break

Bowlers
Muttiah Muralitharan - 35 - Sri Lanka - Right-arm off-break
Joginder Sharma - 24 - India - Right-arm fast-medium
Makhaya Ntini - 30 - South Africa - Right-arm fast
R. Ashwin - 21 - India - Right-arm off-break
Sudeep Tyagi - 20 - India - Right-arm fast-medium
Lakshmipathy Balaji - 26 - India - Right-arm fast-medium


Administration and Coaching Staff
Owner - India Cement Ltd.
CEO - TBA
Ambassador - Kris Srikkanth, film stars Joseph Vijay and Nayantara
Chief Selector - V. B. Chandrasekhar

Coaches:
Head Coach - Kepler Wessels
Assistant Coach - TBA
Physiotherapist - Tommy Simsek
Physical Trainer - Gregory King